Struggling to Increase pH

[Jobu183]

I'm trying to figure out how to raise my pH. Cannot get it above 7.8 / 7.9

Started to dose Aquavitro Balance, and recently switched to Brightwell Boost pH. I'm seeing an increase in Alk (from 9.0 -> 10.2), however pH has not changed. Any suggestions?

Tank Info:
Biocube 32 (Protein Skimmer, Carbon, Fuge (kinda, hard time getting chaeto or pom pom to grow)

LFS Water Test as of today:
Sal- 1.022 (my test at home shows 1.025, which is weird, but working to increase this today)
pH- 7.8
Alk- 10.1
Phos 0.1
Cal 463
Mg 1200
Ammo 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrate 8

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Those two products are just high pH alk additives. Don’t use them or anything else unless you need alkalinity.

There are many ways to raise pH, but I would not assume that it is a high priority for you to do so.

More aeration with lower CO2 air is the main way, which has many ways of accomplishing it.

 

[alindell]

I'm trying to figure out how to raise my pH. Cannot get it above 7.8 / 7.9

Started to dose Aquavitro Balance, and recently switched to Brightwell Boost pH. I'm seeing an increase in Alk (from 9.0 -> 10.2), however pH has not changed. Any suggestions?

Tank Info:
Biocube 32 (Protein Skimmer, Carbon, Fuge (kinda, hard time getting chaeto or pom pom to grow)

LFS Water Test as of today:
Sal- 1.022 (my test at home shows 1.025, which is weird, but working to increase this today)
pH- 7.8
Alk- 10.1
Phos 0.1
Cal 463
Mg 1200
Ammo 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrate 8

If your tank is in a basement or area does not get fresh air or good circulation there a few things you can do. My tank is in a basement and the best things I did were opening a window slightly to get fresh air in and running kalkwasser. Other things that can help too are running a fan near the tank with fresh air from the window, increasing surface agitation, running a line from your skimmer air intake to the outside. Anything to drive down co2

 

[mdpitts]

I agree with @alindell I'm a newbie but I was having problems too and as I was searching for an answer I saw that stagnant air in your house can cause low ph. People were right back in the day (my mom) when they said you should air out your house. Especially during the winter when it's no fun to invite in the cold air. Anyway, my little nano tank is at the top of my stairs under a small window so I opened the window for a couple hours and tested my PH and it had increased to the point I felt it was perfect. The kicker is that it doesn't last that long.

 

[Devisissy]

I had an AIO for years and never got my PH over 7.9. EVER. So stop chasing the numbers. Trust me. It will only cause you issues.

 

[FUNGI]

Run the air-in to your skimmer to outside air. That should help abit......

 

[Jobu183]

Thank you all for the help. Reassuring to understand that the 7.8 / 7.9 pH isn't that bad.

If your tank is in a basement or area does not get fresh air or good circulation there a few things you can do. My tank is in a basement and the best things I did were opening a window slightly to get fresh air in and running kalkwasser. Other things that can help too are running a fan near the tank with fresh air from the window, increasing surface agitation, running a line from your skimmer air intake to the outside. Anything to drive down co2

@alindell I'm currently utilizing two part dosing, from my quick research the benefit of kalkwasser in this instance is that it helps to boost pH along with alk and cal, which 2 part dosing does not? Do I understand that correctly?

Thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm currently utilizing two part dosing, from my quick research the benefit of kalkwasser in this instance is that it helps to boost pH along with alk and cal, which 2 part dosing does not? Do I understand that correctly?

Thanks.

That is correct. There are a number of ways to boost alk, and hydroxide is the highest pH way to do it.

 

[alindell]

Yah so kalk will add calcium and alk but it usually isn't enough unless you dose alot of it. It just depends on your systems need. It's great for ph without affecting your other parameters drastically. Alot of people use it and it's been around for awhile. I believe WWC corals in Florida basically only use kalk.

While 7.8 is the absolute minimum you want ph at it is not ideal I'm my opinion. Coral health and growth is limited. I've noticed certain corals will not do well, close up or die, but some will some do fine. It's just not optimal. If you really want to provide the best care and growth you'll probably want to be within the consistent 8.2, 8.3 which mirrors natural seawater range as it really allows corals to calcify easier and they just seem to do better. Just make sure you have enough light, food, alk consistency, calcium and magnesium to supply the growth. I struggled with the same lower ph but I immediately noticed a vast difference once I started dosing kalk and keeping ph up. So much so I had to add all4reef sodium bicarbonate and calcium to keep up with demand on my little 40 gallon. Growth took off like I've never seen. Kalk is super cheap too much.